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Full-Text Articles in Education
Understanding Early Cognitive Development: Using Pat Early Years To Support Student Learning, Sandra Knowles
Understanding Early Cognitive Development: Using Pat Early Years To Support Student Learning, Sandra Knowles
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
The correlation between early cognitive and psychosocial development is well established. For this reason, some measurement tools, such as UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI2030), provide a single score as an overall indicator of a child’s development because performing poorly in one area is likely to mean inadequate development across all areas. While these broad indicators can be useful at a system level, understanding children’s development in discrete domain areas is essential for meaningful intervention. This presentation will explore how measurement tools, such as ACER’s Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) for the Early Years, can be used to support targeted intervention …
Assessment Is Coming And The Early Childhood Sector Must Lead The Way, Dan Cloney
Assessment Is Coming And The Early Childhood Sector Must Lead The Way, Dan Cloney
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Assessment is a core component of quality early childhood practice. It is explicitly highlighted in the new Early Years Leanring Framework V2.0 and is a standard within Quality Area 1 of the National Quality Standard. In everyday early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings, and in initial teacher education, assessment is often limited to observational and narrative-driven approaches. Recent reviews of the literature highlight that there are few other assessment tools readily available to educators. What assessment looks like in early childhood is changing. The Commonwealth, as part of the Preschool Reform Funding Agreement, is developing, trialling, and implementing a …
Evidence-Informed Early Language And Literacy Practice: Implementation Of A New Formative Assessment For Early Language And Literacy Development, Sarah Groom, Mary-Ruth Mendel, Eric Brace, Philippa Pryor
Evidence-Informed Early Language And Literacy Practice: Implementation Of A New Formative Assessment For Early Language And Literacy Development, Sarah Groom, Mary-Ruth Mendel, Eric Brace, Philippa Pryor
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
With one in five Australian children starting school developmentally vulnerable, there is a need in this critical period for visibility over children’s oral language and early literacy development. The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) partnered with a Northern Territory primary school to implement the Early Language and Literacy Development Index (ELLDI), a newly-created valid and reliable assessment which places children on a progression scale for oral language and early literacy development and provides meaningful, accessible recommendations for educational practice. Twenty-three children in the school’s transition cohort were measured using the ELLDI at the beginning and end of the school …
An Innovative Method For Teachers To Formatively Assess Writing Online, Dr Sandy Heldsinger, Stephen Humphry
An Innovative Method For Teachers To Formatively Assess Writing Online, Dr Sandy Heldsinger, Stephen Humphry
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Assessment is an integral component of effective teaching and a teacher’s professional judgement influences all routine aspects of their work. In the last 20 years, there has been considerable work internationally to support teachers in using assessment to improve student learning. However, there is a pressing issue that impedes teacher professional judgement being exploited to its full potential. The issue relates to teacher assessments in the context of extended performances such as essays and arises from the complexity of obtaining reliable or consistent teacher assessments of students’ work. Literature published in the United States, England and Australia details evidence of …
The Swans/Ables Project: A Set Of Resources Developed Collaboratively With Teachers To Support The Teaching And Learning Of Students With Additional Learning Needs, Toshiko Kamei
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
The inclusion of students with additional learning needs in schooling is part of policy and practice in Australia. However, it has been well documented that teachers lack the resources and training to meaningfully include students with additional learning needs in the full range of learning in their classrooms. The SWANs (Students with Additional Needs) program of work aimed to fill this gap through developing assessments based on learning progressions to provide targeted information to support the teaching and learning of all students, including students with additional learning needs. The development and implementation of the SWANs/ABLES suite of resources illustrates how …
Interpreting Learning Progress Using Assessment Scores: What Is There To Gain?, Nathan Zoanetti
Interpreting Learning Progress Using Assessment Scores: What Is There To Gain?, Nathan Zoanetti
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Using assessment scores to quantify gains and growth trajectories for individuals and groups can provide a valuable lens on learning progress for all students. This paper summarises some commonly observed patterns of progress and illustrates these using data from ACER’s Progressive Achievement Test (PAT) assessments. While growth trajectory measurement requires scores for the same individuals over at least three but preferably more occasions, scores from only two occasions are naturally more readily available. The difference between two successive scores is usually referred to as gain. Some common approaches and pitfalls when interpreting individual student gain data are illustrated. It is …
Applying Empirical Learning Progressions For A Holistic Approach To Evidence-Based Education: Swans/Ables, Emily White
Applying Empirical Learning Progressions For A Holistic Approach To Evidence-Based Education: Swans/Ables, Emily White
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Learning progressions have become an increasing topic of interest for researchers, educational organisations and schools as they can describe the expected pathway of learning within a content area to allow for targeted teaching and learning at all levels of ability. However, there is substantial variation in how learning progressions are developed and to what extent teachers can use them to inform their practices. The ABLES/SWANS tools (Students with Additional Needs/Abilities Based Learning and Education Support) are an example of how an empirical learning progression can be applied to support teachers’ ability to not only target teaching to a student’s zone …
Developing An Assessment Of Oral Language And Literacy: Measuring Growth In The Early Years, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
Developing An Assessment Of Oral Language And Literacy: Measuring Growth In The Early Years, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences
Children develop rapidly in their early years. A crucial component of this development is a child’s ability to learn and use language. Even before they enter formal education, children have learned much about oral language and literacy through meaningful interactions with others, and from their life experiences. Children, however, do not develop at the same pace – some children arrive in early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs more advanced while others require additional support. Recent reviews of the assessment tools available to ECEC educators show a lack of good quality measurement and a reliance on checklist style inventories or …
What Can Early Childhood Education And Care Settings Teach Us About Skills For The 21st Century?, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
What Can Early Childhood Education And Care Settings Teach Us About Skills For The 21st Century?, Dan Cloney, Kellie Picker
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings are naturally oriented towards promoting 21st century skills. This can be seen in Australia, where learning is defined as the development of identity, social and emotional skills, problem-solving, and communication skills. A 21st century orientation is also seen in the playbased pedagogies implemented in ECEC settings. A gap, however, exists in the ability of the ECEC sector to communicate its successes. This gap relates to the lack of measurement tools to quantify the quality of the adult–child interactions in ECEC settings, and children’s growth in these 21 century skills and abilities. This paper …
Using Measures Of Quality To Improve The Learning Outcomes Of All Children, Dan Cloney
Using Measures Of Quality To Improve The Learning Outcomes Of All Children, Dan Cloney
2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences
There is compelling evidence that high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs can act to narrow achievement gaps attributed to social inequality. This evidence is typically observed in model programs, designed by experts and offered to vulnerable families outside the market. In everyday settings, where market forces may price families out of certain programs or poor local availability may preclude attendance, ECEC programs do not appear to deliver these significant gains or close these gaps. There is a need to continually improve quality in all ECEC settings to deliver on the potential of early education. It is unclear, however, …